Donald Trump impact on IT jobs may not be as dramatic as expected

Trump had earlier said the Americans are living through the greatest job theft in the history of the world

Updated: Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 18:28 [IST]

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New Delhi, Nov 9: US presidency under Donald Trump could spell a difficult time for the software and outsourcing industry jobs, but the impact may not be as dramatic as anticipated, say experts.

Trump had earlier said the Americans are living through the greatest job theft in the history of the world, saying the companies are moving out jobs from the US to countries like India, China, Mexico and Singapore.

He had also accused US technology giant IBM of laying off 500 workers in Minneapolis and shifting their jobs to India and other countries as he warned of levying a 35 per cent tax on companies doing so if he is elected.

Trump was on Wednesday elected as the new President of the US. "With this win, the immigration policies that Trump stands for could spell a difficult time for the software and outsourcing industry, significantly affecting the growth of this industry and related remittances from the US to India which are considerably high," Antal International India MD Joseph Devasia said.

"In the short term, this would be a space worth watching and how immediate policy decisions may impact India."

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and Senior Vice-president, TeamLease, said: "Believe Trump won the election on his protectionist pitch, however once he takes over the Oval office the business man in him shall surface."

She further said even before Trump came to power, Visa norms got tightened and one should anticipate the same to continue or probably become a tad more difficult. However, to restrict all jobs that are currently outsourced to India from within the US may take some time to manifest.

"The turnaround will take a while to manifest and the desired skills and the numbers may not be readily available in the US right now. India is an important ally for the US in geo-political space and one would see reasonable trade-offs being made which cannot be one-sided as incidentally India is an important domestic market for many American firms," she explained.

"There would be a mixed impact in IT and BPO/KPO services jobs, however may not be as dramatic as anticipated," Chakraborty, who is also the president of Indian Staffing Federation, added.

According to Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management, the IT sector could get negatively impacted, especially in the short term.

"However, we do not expect significant impact in the long term as the cost advantage of emerging nations like India should outweigh, going forward," Sharma added.